Conventionally, there is known a liquid processing apparatus configured to perform a liquid processing on a substrate (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as “wafer”) such as a semiconductor wafer by supplying a processing liquid onto the substrate while holding and rotating the substrate in a substantially horizontal manner. For example, a liquid processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is equipped with a processing liquid supply pipe configured to supply a processing liquid such as pure water or a cleaning liquid onto a rear surface of the wafer.
In the liquid processing apparatus of Patent Document 1, a wafer is moved up and down between an upper position where a transfer of the wafer is performed and a lower position where a liquid processing of the wafer is performed. This moving up and down of the wafer is performed by a single elevating mechanism. This elevating mechanism is equipped with an interlocking member coupled to the processing liquid supply pipe to be moved up and down; and a connecting member connected to a lift pin plate configured to hold the wafer. By moving the interlocking member and the connecting member up and down, the wafer and the processing liquid supply pipe are moved up and down. With this elevating mechanism, for a time during which the interlocking member is separated from the connecting member when moving the interlocking member upwards, only the processing liquid supply pipe is raised while the wafer is stopped. Accordingly, a head portion of the processing liquid supply pipe is moved closer to the rear surface of the wafer.
In the liquid processing apparatus of Patent Document 1 as stated above, it is desirable that the head portion is placed closer to the wafer when the processing liquid is supplied. In this case, however, if a liquid remains at the head portion of the processing liquid supply pipe when moving the wafer from the lower position to the upper position, the remaining liquid may come into contact with the rear surface of the wafer W, so that the wafer is contaminated.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2013-254959